Sunday, 20 February 2011

It's not often that gigs are held in the Sea Front night club that is Digital and what a shame. Although it smells like a cross between a gym and a sun fried poo, the sound is astounding through what has been called one of “the best sound systems in Europe”. This coupled with the club lights offers something different than what you can find anywhere else in Brighton.

First band on of the night were This Is Massacresupporting release of their new EP 'We cannot be saved'. With a legion of excited fans showing their support a mosh pit opens up within seconds of them storming the stage.

Their sound is clear and distinct, with kick pedals sounding extra beefy through the above head height speakers.

The band come across in the medium ground between new age mainstream Thrash and Hardcore by the likes of Bullet For My Valentine and Bring Me The Horizon with their fresh post-emo look. However this falls with the bass player, who was so overcome with his alternativeness that the useless scarf he was wearing was actually deadening his strings on his bass, perhaps he should concentrate more on substance than style.

Their set however is very entertaining and the music is well balanced between Metal and Melody as to leave a lasting impression and makes me want to further check out their EP.

The last song they played was the title track to their new EP 'We Cannot Be saved' which saw them shooting a video. Although a few mistakes it is bound to look visually impressive with the mosh pits and screaming fans singing the lyrics back. This Is Massacre have come a long way in the year since I last saw them and it would appear that not much is going to slow this down.

Rochester's Feed The Rhinowere up next, fresh from a tour with Gallows the band were shrouded in mystery for their first Brighton. The elusive t-shirt that read; Feed The Fucking Rhino, is also bound to confuse older generations who cannot understand why a shirt would so aggressively command you to feed a 2 ton African plained Mammal.

Their stage presence showed more confidence than the previous band ripping through track after track to the ultimate in audience participation: mosh/circle pits and a brutal wall of death. With a dual Telecaster assault their sound was predominantly Hardcore based, with small influences from Math and Class Rock. The energetic front man squeezed every ounce of energy out of the crowd, climbing on top of speakers and even joining the mosh pit himself.

Feed The Rhino are quickly picking up a name for themselves with fans and bands alike and can be next seen at Hammerfest III.

Headlining the gig were underground Post-Hardcore Rockers Devil Sold His Soul. Having not know what to expect, they walked out to an eerie ambient and classically inspired backing track waiting for the drop. The sound that came out of the speakers next was nothing short of insane. Making full use of the in house sound system and the six double 21' subs. Standing next to the speakers actually caused my eyes to shake and made it difficult to breathe.

What Devil Sold His Soul do is very original using the guitars and synth to create textured sound scapes that are almost trancing in effect. These all build up to dramatic climaxes with the release of tension through groove and screamed vocals.

Not being very aware of the bands music I listened to them on CD back at home, and was very disappointed, having not transferred that live sound into the recordings, making the epic-ness of the night at Digital seem like a very privileged event.

With so many venues closing last year in Brighton, it was very concerning for the live scene. But now with The Green Door Store opening this trend seems to have changed. Lets just hope that Digital can do the same.

Monday, 7 February 2011

The buzz surrounding the EP launch last night was electric. Once A Wolf saw an extremely turgid Hydrant full of eager fans, an unfortunate rarity in Brighton but a credit to the quality of acts that were performing.

Sweet Ether joined the bill last minute as the honorary opening act as Diving Chaos were in the unlucky position of being stuck in Slough due to the all to well known inefficiency of British public transport, Doh!

Watching Sweet Ether for a second night in a row confirmed my prior thoughts. Their reworked set and stage show, is only going to accelerate their ascent leaving the weaker and less original bands of their genre lying in the dust.

It is notable that they were somewhat out of place with their Toolinspired Grunge in a bill of short haired, high slung Tech-Metal guitarists, but never the less they were well received and kicked the night off with a bang!

Popping your cherry in-front of a large room full of people is never an easy affair but From Afar's gig virginity was taken in style. Their Tech/Post-Hardcore style mixes it up a bit taking influence from bands such as Alexisonfire, The Fall of Troy and Mastodon.

Their line up is used effectively with guitars layering the sound scape and well employed dynamics which show the destruction and reformation of their songs.

There were a few small slip ups, such as one of the guitarists taking it straight to string break city but this was dealt with relatively well under the support of the audience.

Vocally frontman Lance did a great job handling the screamed and clean sections without any problem. From Afar showed great promise tonight and with the debut EP 'A Theory For You” currently being recorded another strong act is added the surging pool of talent in our town.

Shane Thomas power riffing

Once A Wolf are obviously the band everyone is here to see tonight and with spirits running high with the release of 'Advent” they detonate onto the stage.

Primal aggression oozes off the stage as fingers fly across the fretboards and a savage assault of riffs, screams and shredding dreams batter you into submission.

The band show virtuosity over their instruments and genre with songs that naturally flow as apposed to cramming to many conflicting ideas into one song in paradox of this genre.

The unity on stage is that of an extremely well experienced group of musicians who are tight as they are technical with complicated guitar parts that my brain could hardly compute, just remember to pick your jaw up from the floor later.

Vocally front man Steve Powell had no fear in reaching those high notes just as much as the ball rattling roars. The Progressive nature of their songs really takes you on a journey and their set completely flew by for me, and it is also great to see a Metal band that can handle clean tone, salvation!

Once A Wolf have got the building blocks in place for a tempestuous future with their music, just be warned however, they come bearing teeth.

Having already received a good level of acclaim through touring with Emmure and Iwrestledabearonce as well as a track that's to be released on 'British Tech-Metal Volume 1' it was the perfect follow up to the showdown that was Once A Wolf's set.

There was decrease in audience population but Visions brutally took us from song to song. However something was missing for me. It wasn't that they aren't a good band, far from it!

It just seemed to wash over me as I didn't feel they could compete with the intensity and support that the last band received.

Some people say that nothing new is happening in Metal, and that those who live in the past are doomed to repeat it. Anyone who was at the launch party last night know's this is total bullshit. Metal is alive! And doing very well for itself.

So if you haven't already get yourself to; onceawolf.bigcartel.com buy yourself a copy of 'Advent' and revel in their musical release

Sunday, 6 February 2011

5 piece Death Ape Disco were the first band i saw of the night having already watched Prowess last week at Belushi's Bar.

Death Ape delivered huge riffs with a searing Death Metal like vocal harking to a collusion of bands such as Down, and Alice in chains with heavier acts like Decapitated and Pantera.

They played to a well stocked room of people that banged their heads to their dropped tuned riffery. The band had a more Progressive outlook than the later acts but made for interesting structures that built in intensity.

Death Ape Disco acted as a great support act to the following bands and will demand attention across Brighton in the following months.

It's been 3 months since I last saw Gutter Fly, and time has evidently not stood still. Their catchy as fuck single “Because of you” is out now on Itunes and they have just got through the first round of “Live & Unsigned”.

They had a large level of audience support which filled the venue with screaming fans who were well under the control of the frontman.Gutter Fly have stepped up their game, sounding tighter and appearing to have more on stage chemistry, aww.

A band like this are bound to do well as they appeal to such a wide audience. Their pop structured songs allow the not so heavily inclined to listen without melting, whilst still retaining some very dirty and heavy moments. Their lead guitar player is also a totally insane shredder so there's something here for everyone.

Having heard all but good things about By Definition, my expectations were high and were very well met. The band's first EP 'Eyes on Wires' is out now on Spotify (review later this month) and 2 new recordings of 'Seek' and 'Red lights' are soon to take place.

Like the bands before By Definition wore Southern influences on their sleeve as well as Stoner Metal. Their cool as shit frontman acts as a great host for the audience with funny chats between songs making their set feel almost social.

Their songs were well written and gripping throughout. One song mixed up their style verging on skanky Rap Metal. The singer later dedicated to all his “Dawgs in the audience”.

By Definition were a great headline act to a great night, bring on Southern Discomfort 3!